AuthorTopic: Bulk problem (Read 5755 times)

I picked up some fresh cow shit that I dried outside till it was completely dry and no strange odors were present. In fact, the shit smelled like a high quality soil, no ammonia, no shit smell.I crumbled it till it was a fine type of soil then mixed with verm and put in a 3 liter tupperware where I moistened it well. I left it sit 24 hours to leave the shit, verm and pieces of straw absorb the water well (Nan?s method). Once the time was over I had to water again cause the mix was really dry.The next day I pasteurized the shit/verm mix inside the tupperware in a pot with water at 80?C for 2 full hours (this procedure worked for me in the past). Then I spawned it with some colonized WBS that was inoc. with agar wedges from a cloned shroom. I used 2 pint jars of fully colonized WBS per 3 liter dung/verm tupperware.It?s been 2 weeks and no colonization present. There are no contams neither. They are in a closet that I use as incubator with no heating pad.

I suggest you do the moisterizing and pasterizing the compost all at once by putting straw and dung mixed in a large pot or bowl(i use 15 l paint tray), add really hot, almost boiling water to cover the compost, seal the bowl tight with a cover and leave for 1 hour. I additionally put inside the tray over the compost a pillow cover with pure dung in it(which i need later) and put a brick on it to keep it down soaked in water. After 1 hour you turn the tray around (in a bathtub) for water to drain and leave few hours or overnight for compost to cool down. After that the compost is ready for spawn to colonize, it's moist and bacteria free. Just make sure you add an extra layer of pure dung over the compost since the dung itself is much more contaminant resistant that straw. At 23-24 Celzius and high humidity, the large amounts of compost should be colonized in a matter of days, average in a week. when it takes too long for the micelia to showw up on the surface of the compost, then something is not in order. The method is quick and simple and it never failed me yet.I hope this helps a little.

I use small filter patches, a few inches in diameter, otherwise during the colonization of the compost fanning is not the key. But after the compost is colonized(which happens in few days), then air exchanges are crucial for pining and to diminish the chances of contamination. Rather start to fann the terrarium earlier, when the mycelium is vividly spreading over the compost to avoid contamination. I fann the terrarium once a day for 5-10 minutes, but i keep the temperature at 22 Celzius and it works fine. After aprox. 10 days of such conditions with flourescent light for 10 hours a day the pining starts. But if your temperature is higher, like 24 degrees, then you should fann the terrarium at least 2 or 3 times a day, otherwise the contamination might occur, because higher temperatures raise the humidity, which is perfect conditions for bacteria to develop. So, air is here the key. good luck!